California cops sued for firing Taser at teenager's testicles

A black teenager is suing the city of Richmond, CA after a local police officer reportedly tasered him in the testicles.

Andre Little, who was involved in the altercation at a train
station with Officer Kristopher Tong, claims that both his civil
rights and state laws were violated.

According to the lawsuit filed, Little said that he was waiting
for a train when Tong moved toward him and asked if he was
involved with another group of teens, also black, according to
the Courthouse News Service. That group had been “previously
detained for questioning,” but Little denied that he was
associated with them.

Little claims that Tong then told him to move down to another
section of the platform. When he refused, Tong and another
officer reportedly pulled the teenager down to the ground as
Little yelled that they had the wrong guy.

At this point, Little’s complaint states, "Tong then pulled
out a Taser and pointed it at [Little's] head.” The teen
pushed the Taser away, but then Tong pointed the device at his
scrotum, causing Little to shout, "Don't tase me bro! Please
don't tase me in the balls! You don't have to do this!"

According to the suit, though, Tong tasered the boy in the
scrotum anyway, placed the teen on his stomach, and used the
Taser one more time on his back.

U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled that Little did
not sufficiently prove that Tong singled the teen out or was
motivated by race. She noted the complained failed to describe
Little’s position relative to other passengers at the station as
well as the group previously detained by the police.

"For instance, the complaint is silent as to whether Little
was standing next to the previously detained young men, or
whether Little was away from the men and/or among other
non-African-Americans who were not questioned by Tong,”
Corley wrote.

Still, Corley said that Little will be offered an opportunity to
amend his suit in order to clarify the details of the situation.

“If it can be plausibly inferred that Tong approached Little
and questioned him about his association with the detained
African-American men because Little is also African-American,
such racial animus provides the further plausible inference that
Tong’s actions occurring in close temporal proximity — ordering
Little to move down the platform and the use of force — were also
motivated by racial animus,” the judge wrote.